• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About Strata-gee
  • Contact Us
  • Free Newsletter
  • Sponsor Strata-gee
  • Privacy Policy
  • Latest Posts
  • Strategy
  • Technology
  • Products
  • People
  • Statistics
  • Financial
  • Legal
  • Economic Data
  • Shows & Events

Strata-gee.com

Strategy in TECH...

What Savant Can Do
You are here: Home / Brands / In Wake of Strata-gee Article, McIntosh Sends Letter to Dealers

In Wake of Strata-gee Article, McIntosh Sends Letter to Dealers

February 25, 2016 by Ted 5 Comments

Cropped image from WOM Last week, we broke the news on Strata-gee.com that McIntosh Laboratories, historically a strong supporter of specialty A/V dealers, had decided to open up sales through the Internet. This decision hit the existing, largely offline, McIntosh specialty dealers hard…many reaching out to us to express their frustration.

The same day our story was posted, McIntosh electronically distributed a letter to dealers from Dan Wakefield, VP of North American Sales for McIntosh, explaining the company’s decision.

See what McIntosh said to dealers about their decision…



As we noted in our story last week, we spoke with several McIntosh dealers who all told us a very similar story about the company’s decision to sell McIntosh products online. Dealers were clearly unhappy about the company’s decision – angry, in fact.

Crestron Infra-Bass

Interestingly, not all of the dealers we spoke with had been notified by McIntosh of this decision, but all the dealers who said they had been notified, all heard via a telephone call from their local McIntosh representative. We could not figure out why some dealers knew about McIntosh’s move…while others didn’t.

Dealers Receive a Letter



Then, about three hours after our story was posted online – all dealers received an electronically delivered letter from the company explaining their decision and giving some details as to why they did it. The letter also included a “faq” or frequently asked questions attachment that gave more details about this new online sales program.

The letter came from McIntosh VP or North American Sales Dan Wakefield. Wakefield is new to this position, having started in the role just this month. Prior to taking over the VP of Sales role, Wakefield had been business development for McIntosh.

From WOM website
This is an image from the World of McIntosh website

In the letter, Wakefield noted that internet access through “computers and smartphones has created revolutionary shifts in the way that all of us live and shop.” He went on to refer to a survey that showed that “78% of respondents reported researching online before heading to a store to make a purchase.” All of this led the company to determine that “it would be wise to embrace the opportunity that on-line visibility represents.”

Sonance James Small Aperture

Internet Sales to Start

McIntosh Dealer letter
McIntosh dealer letter [Click to enlarge]
Accordingly, Wakefield announced that “select” online dealers will be allowed to offer “a specific subset of World of McIntosh products” to be sold over the internet. The models that were chosen, the letter says, were those that could “easily be sold, shipped and supported through the online channel.”

Current bricks and mortar McIntosh dealers will also be offered the opportunity to sell online as well. And, interestingly, the company specifically mentions Crutchfield, “a leader within the online channel,” will also be authorized.

You can see the entire letter by clicking on the image of it here.

Finally, the letter included a link to a frequently asked questions document that gave more specifics to the program. We had reported last week that a dozen models were to be included in the online sales program, but as it turns out, it is actually 16 named models and “Audio and Speaker cables.”

From the frequently asked questions document:

“Our belief is that the expanded visibility of the WOM brands will increase demand for our products across all channels. In addition, online pricing will serve to validate the prices at which you sell our products, allowing consumers to purchase from you with more confidence by knowing they are getting the best price available.”



See the entire frequently asked questions document titled E-Commerce Announcement Dealer Q&A by clicking here: McIntosh-dealer-letter-faqs

We did have the opportunity to speak with Dan Wakefield, but he would only agree to speak with us off the record. So, unfortunately, we are unable to report the substance of this conversation other than to say that it was generally in line with the dealer letter and attached questions-and-answers document.

See more about McIntosh at: www.mcintoshlabs.com and www.worldofmcintosh.com.


Share this post:

  • Tweet
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • More
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Filed Under: Brands, Manufacturers, News, Pivot Point, Sales, Strategy Tagged With: Dan Wakefield, McIntosh, McIntosh Labs, WOM, World of McIntosh

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Search

Sign-Up for Our FREE Newsletter

loader

Latest Posts

T-Day+1: Tariffs…And So It Begins…

**NEW Update 6/13/25** - See a Selection of Tariff Programs from Around the … [Read More...] about T-Day+1: Tariffs…And So It Begins…

Multiple Executive Changes Announced by Masimo; COO Muhsin to Resign July 1

In a new Form-8K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on … [Read More...] about Multiple Executive Changes Announced by Masimo; COO Muhsin to Resign July 1

  • T-Day+1: Tariffs…And So It Begins…
  • A Dramatic Finale: Judge Orders Lutron to Pay GeigTech *Double Damages,* Interest & Costs
  • I’ve Gone Fishing…
  • In Its Boldest Move Yet, AVPro Global Acquires Control Solutions Maker RTI

Categories

Sponsors

Crestron Infra-Bass
AudioControl Single Zone Amps
Sonance James Small Aperture
Savant
Oasys Residential Technology Group

Tag Cloud

acquisition Amazon Apple AudioControl B&W Bowers & Wilkins CEDIA CEDIA Expo CES Control4 Core Brands COVID-19 Crestron D&M Holdings Denon Emerald Expositions Foxconn Gibson Brands Gibson Guitar Google Henry Juszkiewicz Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. housing starts Integra Joe Kiani LG Marantz Masimo Nortek OLED Onkyo Panasonic patent infringement Pioneer Samsung Savant Sharp smart home SnapAV Snap One Sonos Sony Sound United SpeakerCraft Toshiba

Footer

Got News?

HEY PR & Marketing Pros: Have NEWS for Strata-gee readers?

Send it to: HotNews@strata-gee.com

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Sponsor Strata-gee

Strata-gee Ads

Archives

Translate

Ted Green Bio

A former dealer, manufacturer, distributor & more. Focusing on business strategy, my goal is to help you make better decisions for greater success.

Follow Ted Green

  • Facebook
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram

Copyright © 2025 Strata-gee.com · The Stratecon Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved · Log in

%d